He realized the truth with a sickening lurch. The “fragmented audio data” wasn't in a black box. The black box was the Chasm. The failed FTL drive hadn't just torn a hole in space. It had torn a hole in time , or at least, in causality. Every stray radio wave, every shouted order, every panicked breath from the original disaster had been trapped here, caught in a recursive loop, amplifying and corrupting itself for a century. And now, it was aware.
No, not stopped. It had changed. It was no longer a passive drone. It was… listening. Kaelen felt it as a pressure differential in his ears, a subtle pull towards the Chasm’s heart. He drew the long, slender emitter wand from its holster on his thigh and slotted it into the cannon’s port. The weapon hummed to life, a high-pitched whine that was the MSBD’s active sonar, painting the invisible world in sound. Msbd 008 Featuring
The last thing Kaelen saw was the black glass of the Chasm reflecting his own face. But it wasn't his face. It was a mask of pure, patient silence, with a million whispering mouths. He realized the truth with a sickening lurch